Portfolio Series Oil Pastels, Water Soluble, 24 Count, Colors May Vary

Great blendability. Rich pigments. Soft. Excellent to work with.

Love these oil pastels! So fun and versatile. Great quality.

As other reviewers have pointed out, these water soluble oil pastels give great value for the money. Over the years I've bought (and sometimes given away) nearly every brand of paint, marker, pen, pastel (oil and clay-based) on the market, sometimes paying a fairly high price. For years my favorite brand of oil pastel has been Sennelier (not cheap). I first heard of Portfolio after seeing them in artwork on someone's (don't remember who) blog. I enjoy media that doesn't require a lot of fuss and mess, so I'm a big fan of watercolor pencils and crayons, brush pens and markers, but sometimes I want something with more texture. After reading more about these, I decided to try them: they're by Crayola, after all--who doesn't like Crayola products? I've used them on different weight and textured papers and on cardboard. They glide on smoothly, disperse easily with water and you can smudge them with your fingers before or after applying water. (I use a Niji waterbrush with them.) They're very soft (which is why they glide so easily across your paper), so if you use too much pressure, they leave behind some crumbs. You can just brush these off with a paper towel or blend them into your artwork with a finger. Colors (which are vibrant) blend well together, too--not as thoroughly as paint will, but that's to be expected. I like these better than my watercolor crayons because they don't dry as quickly, giving you more time to blend. As for mixed media, you can use them (let the artwork dry first) with permanent markers, like Sharpie, but you will need to stop occasionally and "clean" the marker by scribbling with it on plain paper to remove any waxy/oily residue. (For that reason, I'd never use expensive markers like Copic with them.) They work well with acrylic paint and India ink. I haven't tried them with oil paint, but I'd expect them to work well together. You can layer them over watercolors, but not the other way around. (Well, you can, but the results may be disappointing, depending on the effect you're going for.) Bottom line: l love them! (I wish they'd make some metallic ones, though.)

Box could be handled with more care or at least be packaged differently. Since these oil pastels are softer in texture than others (I suppose is because of the water soluble quality) they got a little squashed in the box. None arrived broken. Good price for what you get. Great for an elementary art classroom. The box is good for storage and keeping colors separate for when you need to refill.

Fun to play with, great color.

I took an art class and the teacher shared these with the class. They were so much fun and easy to work with, I bought myself a personal pack. They do wear down somewhat quickly, but it's a great price and when they do wear down I'll just buy more. Highly recommend for the every day artist .

Hello Friends ~ I have to tell you, I was unsure about these oil pastels because they were so darn cheap. (Usually, in art supplies, you do get what you pay for... Though not aaalways!) I am an artist and much of my art is sold to high-end markets. I wanted to purchase some cheaper products to practice with and to use while playing with my nieces and nephews. So I purchased several different brands to try out. Many of the lower-priced products also have much more expensive versions, made from the same company. So if the lower-priced items end up performing really well, then you can bet that the higher-end products will likely knock your socks off. Now, I bought the following oil pastels to try out (I will list them from best performance to worst) below: *Portfolio *Pentel *Expressionist by Sakura *Neocolor 2 by Caran D'ache (These are pretty darn expensive, and they are nowhere near the quality of the Portfolio brand) *Faber Castel metallics (metallics are difficult to compare with the others, but these were pretty great for what they were) This brand, Portfolio, far surpassed any and all other oil pastels that I have tried! Very buttery and so smooth, on their own and when blended. Great for mixed media too, over watercolor and acrylic paints. I was sincerely so so very shocked! They are very affordable (I want to buy these in bulk now, and stock up!!!) and they are so easy to clean up. Note: When in doubt, go with water-soluable oil pastels because they are more versatile, and waaaaay easier to clean off of your hands and surfaces!! .... Go get a bunch of these, and have a whooole lot of fun!!! :-)

Eh, this set is ok. Some of the colors are way too transparent. I would not purchase again.

I've used expensive brands and cheap brands of these water soluble oil pastels and these are the best ones I've used so far. They come in so many colours and you can really create whatever you like easily with these. They're on the shorter side, so smaller to hold in your hand, but that's manageable. I can't really say anything negative about these as they're just THAT GOOD. Of course, they don't bleed through pages, you can rub them and blend beautifully together. They are definitely be repurchased again once I run out of these. A fantastic purchase and a very happy buyer here....finally found a good water soluble oil pastel to work with. Thankyou!

Es un set precioso y por el precio realmente vale la pena, en especial me gustaron mucho los colores, definitivamente los volvería a comprar!

vi una artista usando estos pasteles en you tube.. me gusto su efecto. Los uso para cuadros 'mixed mediums' son muy versátiles. Los colores bonitos y buena relación calidad precio. muy satisfecho

Ich hatte bereits die Packung mit den 12 Farben und liebe diese Stifte so sehr, dass ich nun auch das 24er-Set bestellt habe. Ich konnte einfach keine vergleichbaren Stifte in anderen Farben finden und da ich z.B. Hautfarbe brauchte, bin ich jetzt mit dem Set komplett aufgestellt. Die weichen Farben lassen sich sehr cremig mit dem Finger verreiben und ganz leicht mit dem Pinsel vermalen. Wer das mag, dem kann ich die Stifte nur empfehlen!

Very good price for UK and arrived sooner than estimated. I really like the compact folding box which protects the pastels well. I bought these after watching an oil pastel demo where they were recommended for a top layer. Fat chunky sticks very soft and glide on smoothly, nice for finishing over the top of harder pastels. I've only used them once so far, they may get used up more quickly than others being so soft - if this happens I hope I can replace them a similar price. (One doesn't normally expect free postage halfway round the world!) The colours are a little less dense than others I have, but blend well and unlike my other oil pastels they are water soluble giving the option of a slightly different finish. The saying with regard to shoe polish is "Water hardens wax", so if this applies to the kind of wax in pastels then using Portfolios as a top layer and blending over with water may help to harden the layer underneath. I don't know this for a fact yet, but could be useful? I have not used them on their own yet, I imagine they may be good where you want a less strong, slightly translucent effect. I may update this review when I have experimented more with them, especially on how quickly they wear down. I would recommend them to anyone who wants the particular qualities these pastels offer.